Disability law refers to laws related to individuals with disabilities; specifically, these laws protect disabled individuals from certain kinds of discrimination. Disability laws are particularly concerned with employment, housing, education, and access to public services.
Whether a school district is liable for the expenses that a disabled student incurred by pursuing private education when that student did not first attempt to seek help in a public school facility, as mandated by statute.
In 2000, T.A.'s parents realized that their son was a troubled teenager, and though it was suspected that he might have a learning disability, his school district determined that he was not disabled and therefore not entitled to special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. T.A.'s problems continued and in 2003 his parents placed him in a private school. In 2004, a hearing officer determined that T.A. was disabled, and that because Forest Grove School District had failed to offer him free appropriate public education, the district had to reimburse T.A.'s parents for the cost of the private school. The school district appealed, and the Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that damages were not required because T.A.'s parents removed him unilaterally, without his ever having received special education services from a public agency. In this case, the Court will determine whether parents can unilaterally make this decision and then expect the school district to reimburse them, or if they must wait for action by the school district.
Whether the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act permits a tuition reimbursement award against a school district and in favor of parents who unilaterally place their child in private school, where the child had not previously received special education and related services under the authority of a public agency.
After years spent in the Forest Grove School District, T.A. left in the middle of his junior year of high school, when his parents decided to put him in a private school. See Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 523 F.3d 1078, 1081 (9th Cir. 2008). T.A.
